Afghan Dreams:Young Voices of Afghanistan by Tony O'Brien and Mike Sullivan

Photographs by Tony O/Brien. This is a beautiful photo journal of children in Afghanistan who have been affected by the ongoing war. Some have lost family members, been injured themselves, had to drop out of school and more. Two children resorted to pick pocketing to survive. The book is divided into children from Kabul and children from the countryside. The authors present the childrens' stories in their own words with an accompanying photograph of each child. This book is very timely and it will enable upper elementary - high school students an opportunity to see what life is really like for children in a war-torn, impoverished country like Afghanistan.

Lincoln Shot: A President’s Life Remembered

This book stands tall literally (12x18 inches) as well as in quality. Designed to look like a yellowed memorial issue of the 19th century “National News” one year after the assassination, this account starts with the shooting and recovery of the assassins. Then it follows Lincoln’s life, starting with his youth, and continues with his marriage, his political career, and the Civil War. Bing’s illustrations are sure to engage young readers. They include period-style advertisements, wood-cut engravings and archival photographs. I am currently planning a 4/5th grade book club using some of the materials that we obtained from an ALA We the People Bookshelf grant relating to Lincoln and the theme “All Men are Created Equal.” This volume will add to what their teacher and I hope will be an authentic experience. I must note, however, that I will proceed with caution to help them understand that this realistic memorial should not be taken literally. One of their teacher’s requests for our study is to help his students understand the passage of time from the Civil War to segregation beacuse he feels that they do not yet think linearly. We’ll see what happens!

The Constitution of the United States by Chirstine Taylor-Butler

Did you know that the delegates from Virginia and Pennsylvania were the only ones to show up on the correct date for the Constitutional Convention? This work really takes a complicated subject and makes it very accesible to children. This book begins providing quick facts on the cover and continues to the back cover! It is engaging, full of pictures, illustrations, and sidebar facts. It contains a table of contents, a timeline, a statistics page, resources, a glossary, with bold words explained, places to visit, and websites. I especially liked the "Inside the Constitution" page--it really simplifies it down to what the Preamble and the Articles are all about in a quick and easy to understand sentence. A great resource for elementary school with enough odd facts that kids who love their nonfiction books may pick it up on their own--and actually read it! It is a slim volume that does not cover everything--but does get to the heart of the information in an inquiry-based way that will appeal to children. I nominate it for inclusion.

Recommended for upper elementary and especially 5th grade social studies.

11 Planets: A New View of the Solar System by David A. Aguilar

I would like to nominate this title as a wonderful addition to a rapidly changing area in our collections.

First there were 9, then there were 8, and now eleven? This stems from the 2006 changes in the way astronomers viewed our planetary system by dividing it into 3 categories: terrestrial; gas giants; and dwarfs. This is a tardy but thorough explanation of the planets and the solar system and really gets us up to speed on the planetary changes. It is very complete work beginning with an updated mnemonic device then visiting the sun and each of the 11 planets. It contains symbols, photographs, illustrations, orbital charts, Gods the planets were named after, and kid-friendly references and fast fact charts in the back. It also addressed comets, oort clouds, and other solar systems. I really liked the solar system in a bag project located in the back. Contains a table of contents, index, glossary and further exploration section with websites from some great sources. The auothor is the Director of Science Information at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and past Director of the Fisk Planetarium Colorado.
A small quibble with his classical mythology in that he switches between Greek and Roman Gods in random order and mentioned the Sun as the mightiest of the Gods. Apollo was important for many reasons--but "mightiest" is incorrect. A small quibble in a slim volume with a lot of information that will stretch science dollars.

Recommended for upper elementary and middle school.

Ain't Nothing But a Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry by Scott Reynolds Nelson with Marc Aronson

In addtion to telling a great story about a historical mystery, this book also offers a first class look into how a historian works. The author believes that he has found the real John Henry of the famous folk song in the person of a black prisoner who was sent to work for the C&O Railroad during Reconstruction. That story is compelling by itself, but the story of how the discoveries about John Henry were made is just as interesting. The book explains how the author tracked down elusive primary sources and then used them to connect the dots to make a coherent whole. Period photographs and illustrations, along with side notes, illuminate the text.Marc Aronson's contribution is very readable section called "How to be a Historian." An annotated bibliography, notes about sources, and an index are included. Black history and American history studies can be enhanced by this book. A creative music teacher could use it as well.Grades 4-8.

Trout Are Made of Trees April Pulley Sayre

A very child-centered and eco-friendly way to explore the concept of a food web. In this case some campers set up camp by the edge of a stream and watch as leaves fall in the water and decompose and become food for other creatures. Of course those are eaten by bigger creatures. The book follows the life cycle of trout and points out that the trout eat the creatures that ate the creatures that ate the leaves. Therefore the trout are made of trees as are the people who eat the trout and the bears that also eat trout. Bears are not explained--but clearly bears eat fish. This really makes the concept easy to understand and accessible for kids. The title will encourage them to pick it up--just to see what it is about!

The collage illustrations really show what is happening and the joy experienced by the campers as they witness each stage of the events unfolding in the stream.

The acknowledgements make it clear that there were some experts involved in the making of this book. The back of the book contains a more detailed explanation of the trout life cycle. There is also a bibliography of print and electronic resources and a "Be a Stream Hero" section encouraging conservation and protection of our waterways. Recommended for K-3.